No free pass: Western Canadians demand more from energy sector, survey shows

Many Western Canadians are critical of the energy sector’s environmental performance and actively raise funds for or donate money to environmental causes, but still believe oil and gas development should be expanded, according to a new survey commissioned by Canada West Foundation.

The poll, conducted to understand how Westerners feel about farming, forestry, mining and energy, reveals a knowledgeable community actively engaged with developments in the industry, with a third discussing the issue with families and friends.

The poll, conducted by Ipsos Reid, surveyed about 3,000 Canadians mostly from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba (600 were from Ontario).

It shows that 32% of Western Canadians said they would be critical of the energy industry when asked for their opinion, while 11% said they thought so poorly of the industry that would offer a scathing assessment without even being asked. No other resource sector generated as high a level of unsolicited criticism.

“It is almost like an expectation that performance on jobs and economy are table stakes — they are the entry price,” said Len Coad, director of the Centre for Natural Resources Policy at Canada West, an independent, not-for-profit research group based in Calgary. “Western Canadians view the resource industries as integral to economic success, but their level of support and trust focuses more on safeguarding health and safety, protecting the natural environment and keeping commitments to communities.”

The survey suggests Westerners have a largely favourable view of farming and forestry and were a bit befuddled by the mining sector. But they have strong views — positive and negative — on the energy sector.

Claiming to be generally knowledgeable about the industry, almost a quarter of the participants said they believe oil and gas — more so than any other sector — should be “encouraged to expand” in Western Canada.

“Respondents who trust the energy industry found it difficult to pinpoint a single reason, citing economic benefits, job creation and effective government regulation,” the foundation said. “As expected, respondents in Alberta and Saskatchewan have higher trust, with almost half saying they trust the energy industry. For Manitoba and B.C., approximately one-in-three respondents trust the energy industry.”

A third of the respondents said they would encourage young people to build their future in the energy industry, and just over a quarter said they were proud of the sector and were willing to work in the industry.

The reasons to distrust it were more focused. There was a strong link between the lack of trust and perceptions the industry is motivated just by profit, perceived lack of social responsibility and perceived lack of environmental sustainability. In fact, environmental sustainability is cited as a leading trust determinant, the survey noted.

“Only 20% of respondents trust the energy industry (and that is because of perceived economic contribution), but almost half distrust the industry because it is perceived as being motivated solely by financial gains,” Canada West said.

“Dishonest” and “pollution” were other major reasons cited for lack of trust. Only 19% of respondents said they had a better impression of the energy industry than they did a few years ago.

Not surprisingly, 41% believed government has the greatest influence on the energy sector. But the next biggest influencer were industry associations (29%), the survey said.

Almost one-in-four (24%) believed regulatory agencies held sway, and one-in-five deemed environmental agencies as influential. The general public and aboriginal groups were seen as the least influential groups of people in determining industry practices.

That is not say Western Canadians don’t take environmental and community issues lightly. The survey showed that protecting public health and safety of communities and minimizing environment impact on local communities emerged as the two most important issues for respondents.

Close to a quarter of those surveyed said they donated money to an environmental or animal welfare organization in response to energy issues. Another 14% said they helped raise money for such causes.

The participants’ heightened awareness of the energy industry underscores how the sector has become a topic of so called dinner-table discussions. Just over a third of the participants said they had discussed energy issues with a family member or friend, and 14% had visited a website focused on the energy sector.

Almost half of the survey participants who had engaged on resource issues said they had paid attention to energy issues in media, while 37% said they had seen industry advertising.

Of those surveyed, 11% said they had gone as far as to write a letter to the editor or posted a note on the subject on social media. No other resource sector came close to evoking the same reaction among participants.

Of course, awareness and engagement does not translate into trust, the survey showed.

Participants from British Columbia were the biggest detractors of the energy sector, beating even respondents from Ontario. Not surprisingly, majority of respondents in Alberta and Saskatchewan advocated for the industry, with Saskatchewan residents most approving of all resource sectors.

“If you were to do a ranking of the provinces in terms of most favourable to least favourable to the energy sector, Ontario would be in the centre,” said Mr. Coad. “Ontario’s support for energy was higher than in Manitoba and British Columbia.”

Much of the distrust appears to stem from perceived lack of environmental improvement. “There is a clear dichotomy over environmental performance and sustainability. It acts both as a reason to trust and distrust the forestry, mining and energy industries,” the survey said.

According to Ipsos research, environmental responsibility and minimizing environmental impacts on local communities are among the top drivers of trust for all resource industries.

“Limiting climate change and lowering GHG emissions came slightly below the first two indicators and is a driver of trust, but has a lower impact than the first two indicators. Communicating improved performance on these indicators would improve trust levels,” the survey noted.

The issue of aboriginal engagement remains front-and-centre especially in light of recent court rulings that appear to strengthen the case of First Nations in resource development. Three-quarters of the participants said they believe aboriginal engagement is a joint responsibility of government and industry.

“While Western Canadians were convinced of the economic benefits of resource development, they want to see better efforts made to protect public health and safety and to keep promises to communities,” Canada West concluded.

“They want to feel better about the industries’ environmental performance. The future of public support is anchored in resource industries developing sustainable approaches to address these factors that are in line with the priorities of Western Canadians.”